Let's get
motivated! This
workshop is designed to help you find the time and the inspiration to write. No
more staring at a blank screen. Come to this workshop and give yourself a
kick-start, and then learn how to keep going. This creativity workout will get
your words flowing and help you make the breakthrough into the next level of
writing.

Fee: 37.17 + 13% hst = $42 paid
in advance by mail or Interac or 39.82 + 13% hst = $45 if you
wait to pay at the door

Have you ever considered writing your
memoirs or family history? This
workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true
stories and will show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount
actual events. Whether you want to write for your family or for a wider public,
don't miss this workshop.

Ross Pennieis
the author of The Unforgiving Tides, a doctor’s
memoir of Papua New Guinea(Manor House Publishing). Ross also writes medical
mystery novels, published by ECW Press. The first of these, Tainted,came out in 2010 and won Arts Hamilton
Literary Award for Fiction. He’s followed up with three more medical
mysteries: Tampered, Up in Smoke, and Beneath
the Wake. (For
more about Ross's mysteries or to buy one, see here).

At the workshop, Ross will speak on how to
turn ordinary life into dramatic material and will answer questions about how
he wrote his memoir and got it published.

Workshop leaderBrian Henryhas been a book editor and creative writing
instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s
most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University
and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to
Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of
his students get published, including Ross Pennie, the guest speaker at the
Writing Your Life workshop.

Accepts: Poetry
Issues per year: 3
Submission period: See dates
Payment: $50 per published page to a maximum of $150

The Carousel
Accepts: Fiction, poetry
Issues per year: 2
Submission Period: January and September (see dates)
Payment: $55 for 1-4 pages, $100 for five or more pages, a two-issue
subscription which includes the copy with the submitted work

Room
Accepts: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, visual art from women. Men not welcome
Issues per year: 4
Submission period: Year round
Payment: $50 for one page, $60 for two pages, $90 for three pages, $120 for
four pages, $150 for five or more pages

Sunday, May 27, 2018

While on the ferry between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, a First Nations man in his sixties, held out the postcard I had given
to his granddaughter a few moments earlier. It was the postcard my publisher
had created with the cover of my book, Tears in the Grass, on one side, a brief summary of the novel on the
other side. I had a few seconds of panic until he asked where he could buy my
book.

Rarely was it the case (I hate the business side of
writing) but I actually had a copy in my car and I got it for him. This man,
who later sent me a kind note on Facebook, told me that he and his wife were
residential school survivors, and since the main character in my novel was an
elderly residential school survivor, he wanted to read it.

I told him that I was not of First Nation heritage,
but I’d done my research, talked to indigenous people and knew something of the
timeless reach of trauma through my work as a clinical psychologist. He thanked
me for writing my book and said what was important was that more people learn
about what happened to his people.

At one of my readings a First Nations woman stood
up and said when I read the section about my character, Elinor, hoarding food
for her journey to find her lost daughter, she was reminded of her own time in
residential school, that they never had enough to eat, that they didn’t learn
how to cook, and that was why so many of her people were overweight. She bought
my book and said she hoped it would help with her healing.

I have stories from others in emails, on my website
and Goodreads page, for whom my book has had meaning and reflected their own
lives. A young First Nations woman whose mother was a residential school
survivor has become a dear friend who visits regularly. She has read my book
and calls me an ‘ally’ in the reconciliation movement. I have found all of
these connections, messages and communications very moving. No doubt lots of
authors have these type of experiences. While quite unprepared for the array of
responses I received I am deeply grateful for them all.

Because I wrote the book that I did need, when I
did, I have become immersed in a momentous moment in Canadian history. Between
2010 and 2013, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission travelled the country
bearing witness to and recording the stories of First Nations people who are
residential school survivors. Approximately 6,000 thousand people testified,
several volumes of the proceedings were published and are available on Amazon
and in libraries across the country.

My novel was released into that climate. I
still have moments when I think I should not have written what I did; I’m not a
First Nations person. And, to this day, the discussion in magazines, on
television and in newspapers about cultural appropriation remains fierce in
Canada.

I started my novel at Spalding, an earlier version
was my Creative Thesis. Even then I had doubt. But wise Spalding mentors
counselled that if I followed that line of reasoning I would only write my own
memoir. The friend who has called me an ally tells me that the characters in my
novel are believable, honest and true human beings, not the stereotypical
drunken and drug addicted Indian.

In June 2017 I travelled to New York City to attend
the Lambda Literary Awards. My novel was nominated in the Lesbian Fiction
category. Although I didn’t win I’ve not spent a moment bemoaning that. It was
a wonderful evening to chat with other authors and to hear Jeanette Winterson,
Masha Gessen and Jacqueline Woodson speak. And, a real treat, while in New
York, I had lunch with Neela Vaswani, my mentor in my final term at Spalding
University!

Any advice? Write outside your comfort zone, write
what you don’t know. Who knows where it will take you.

Lynda Archer has published short
fiction and nonfiction in The Dalhousie
Review, The New Quarterly, Carve Magazine and Canadian Family Physician.Her debut novel, Tears
in the Grass, was
a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. Lynda holds an MFA in Fiction and a Ph.D.
in Psychology. Her work as a clinical psychologist for almost thirty years, as
well as her early years growing up on the prairies, inform much of her writing.
Lynda is at work on a new novel and more stories. She is
a Goodreads Author and her website is: www.lyndaarcher.ca

The book is a
collection of poetry called Out
of Darkness, Light(Hidden Brook Press, John B. Lee Signature
Series). April will be launching with poet, Mary Ann Mulhern, from
Windsor. There will be short readings and refreshments. Books will be available
for sale and signing.

This is a free event. Parking, too, is free at the lot
on King St. E and Dover St, or at the Alan Reuter Centre just east of the
library.

From picture books to young adult
novels, this weekly course is
accessible for beginners and meaty enough for advanced writers. Through
lectures, in-class assignments, homework, and feedback on your writing, we’ll
give you ins and outs of writing for younger readers and set you on course toward
writing your own books. We’ll have two published children’s authors as
guest speakers:

Jennifer Mook-Sanggrew
up in Guyana and moved to Canada when she was fourteen. While reading
bedtime stories to her two sons, she fell in love with picture books
and decided to write one of her own. In one of Brian
Henry's classes she found the beginnings of a story. That story grew
into the humorous middle-grade novel Speechless, published by Scholastic in 2015.

Speechless won the Surrey Schools Book of the Year Award, was
shortlisted for many others, and was recommended by the Ontario Library
Association, the Canadian Childrens’ Book Centre, the CBC, and the TD Summer
Reading Club.

Then in October 2017, Jennifer published her first
picture book Captain Monty Takes the Plunge with Kids Can Press. Captain Monty is the
boldest, stinkiest pirate to sail the six or seven seas; in fact, he’s never
had a bath. Naturally, the Junior Library Guild immediately selected him for
its fall list of recommended books. Captain Monty has also been nominated for
the Rainforest of Reading Award and Jennifer will be travelling to
St. Lucia for that Festival in March.

Jennifer lives in Burlington, Ontario. You can find
out more about her here.

Speechless is available online here. And Captain Monty Takes the Plunge is available here.

Kira Vermond is an award-winning writer with over 1,500
articles to her name. She has been a frequent contributor to the Globe
and Mail, Chatelaine, CBC and Today's Parent.

Kira is the author of four nonfiction books for
young readers: Half-Truths and
Brazen Lies,(read more about Half-Truthshere); Why We Live Where We Live (more here);
Growing Up: Inside and Out, (nominated for on Ontario Library Association
Forest of Reading Award) and The
Secret Life of Money: A Kid's Guide to Cash (which was my son’s and daughter’s favourite
book the year it came out, although my kids are four years apart).

Kira lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has
been a book editor, author, and creative writing instructor for more than 25
years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for
writers and is the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde (Tribute Publishing Inc). But his proudest boast is
that he’s has helped many of his students get published.

Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.